JPH10161735A - Distribution control system of heavy equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily execute designing and combining by executing division into plural modules by means of the function and the position of respective heavy equipments and independently controlling the divided modules by means of an independent controller. SOLUTION: A whole heavily equipped control system is defined to the multiple divided modules by considering the position and the operation function of various kinds of actuators and sensors in the heavy equipments. That is, division is executed into various kinds of switches related to an operation, an operation module 1 where a display device reporting a situation and the convenient equipment of an operator are included, an engine module 2 where the various kinds of sensors related to an engine system, a valve and a motor are connected and a hydraulic module 3 where various kinds of solenoids and sensors related to running and work such as a transmission or a safe solenoid and the sensors are connected. In the respective modules, a control function assigned to the module is executed and also a self body diagnosing function is executed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a distributed control system for heavy equipment, and more particularly to a system for separating each component mounted in heavy equipment and transmitting / receiving data via each communication line. The present invention relates to a heavy equipment distributed control system capable of controlling the electric and electronic parts of the heavy equipment in a distributed manner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, when a system is used in which signals are transmitted from individual sensors mounted on heavy equipment to a controller or a display device via a line and a connector, as the number of sensors increases, mechanicalness increases. Reliability decreases.

[0003] Recently, researches have been conducted to improve the performance of heavy equipment gradually and to improve the performance, and the number of sensors to be used afterward is increasing.
As a result, the amount of wiring is increased and the cost for wiring is increased.

[0004] Also, by using a distributed control method,
Fault diagnosis of heavy equipment is performed immediately on site, and repairs can be performed by simple replacement of modules, thereby reducing the possibility of disrupting the work plan.

[0005] Therefore, a system in which a self-diagnosis function is added to each module by performing distributed control and necessary information is exchanged and used is a construction equipment, a vehicle, a ship which requires easy operation / repair. This is inevitably required in independent control systems such as aircraft.

Contrary to such necessity, in the conventional heavy equipment control system, a driver's operation performed inside the driver's seat is input to each of the control units, and a unique line existing for each signal is changed. The input from the various sensors is also individually transmitted to the control device using the main controller near the driver's seat via the characteristic line.

[0007]

In such a case, as the number of wirings increases as the heavy equipment requires more functions, it is difficult to search for a marginal space for wiring, the total load increases, and the volume increases. Therefore, the shape of the wiring cannot be easily changed.

Further, as the number of wirings increases, the number of connectors also increases, and it is very difficult to recognize the connection state of the wirings in the terminals. This creates design difficulties when producing new heavy equipment.

Further, when a failure occurs due to poor contact or disconnection of the line, it is not possible to easily grasp the location of the failure, resulting in an increase in time loss occurring at the time of repair and an increase in consumer dissatisfaction. There has occurred.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a decentralized control system for heavy equipment so that the design and combination of the heavy equipment can be easily performed. It is in.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a distributed control of heavy equipment in which control between the modules can be easily performed by dividing and controlling each component in the heavy equipment. It is to provide a system.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a heavy equipment decentralized control system in which when a heavy equipment failure occurs, the failed part can be easily grasped and the failed part can be easily repaired. Is to do.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a heavy equipment decentralized control system in which the model and function of the heavy equipment can be easily changed.

[0014]

A feature of the present invention to achieve the above-mentioned object is that, in heavy equipment, each module is divided into a plurality of modules according to their functions and positions, and each of the divided modules is independent. The control system is independently controlled by a controller, and information can be exchanged between the modules using a single line.

In the present invention, at least one or more of the divided modules may be removed, or each of the modules may be independently installed so that at least one or more modules can be additionally mounted. It is preferable to configure.

Each of the divided modules has a main controller for controlling the operation of each component included in the module, and an input / output for performing communication between the modules based on a control signal of the main controller. After storing the data to be communicated with the output terminal, by the control signal of the main controller,
A communication controller for outputting the stored data, and a ROM for storing a program for performing a specific function of each module and sequentially outputting the stored program according to a control signal of the main controller. Is preferred.

Each module in the heavy equipment is preferably divided into an operation module, an engine module and a hydraulic module.

When the system is operated, the operation module prepares an initialization packet, transmits the packet prepared for the engine module and the hydraulic module, switches to the reception mode, and transmits the packet from the engine module and the hydraulic module. It is preferable to perform a process of acquiring the data, processing the acquired data, performing operations of various indicators according to the assigned address values, preparing the next packet, and then converting to the transmission / reception target module.

Also, the engine module and the hydraulic module are switched to a reception mode to acquire a packet from the operation module, process the acquired packet, drive the system by the packet, and acquire data from various sensors. It is preferable to prepare a new packet, transmit the prepared packet to the operation module, and then switch to the reception mode.

Preferably, the packet obtained from another module includes an error correction code for detecting the presence or absence of an error, and further includes a timer for counting a packet obtaining time to improve responsiveness. Is preferred.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a distributed system according to the present invention. In the present invention, the most important point is to define the entire heavy equipment control system into a number of divided modules in consideration of the positions and operation functions of various actuators and sensors in the heavy equipment, and within each module, the module In addition to performing the control function assigned to, the diagnostic function itself is performed.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, heavy equipment can be roughly divided into three modules. That is, an operation module (operation module) including various switches related to driving, a display device for notifying the situation, and facilities convenient for the driver.
e) An engine module (enginem) in which 1 and various sensors, valves and motors related to the engine system are connected.
odule 2 and a hydraulic module 3 to which various solenoids and sensors related to traveling and work such as a transmission or a safety solenoid are connected.

Here, the operation module 1 receives inputs from various operation switches 4 and a switch board 5 operated by the driver, transmits relevant information to the engine module 2 and the hydraulic module 3, and communicates with the engine module 2 and the hydraulic module. Various information is applied from the module 3 and the operation of the display device 6 equipped with various instrument panels and indicator lights is controlled so that the driver knows.

The engine module 2 outputs various control signals to an engine (not shown) in response to various control signals applied from the operation module 1, receives various information from the engine, and receives this information. Performs the function of transmitting to the operation module 1.

The hydraulic module 3 outputs a control signal for controlling a relay (not shown) and a solenoid (not shown) according to various control signals applied from the operation module 1, Apply various information from the system,
The function of transmitting this information to the operation module 1 is performed.

That is, the engine module 2 operates various actuators connected to the engine module 2 according to the command transmitted from the operation module 1 to acquire various sensor data, and obtains information to be shared with the operation module 1. Send The hydraulic module 3 transmits / receives data detected from the connected actuator and sensor in order to share the data with the operation module 1.

In order to exchange information between the above-described modules, the communication port is set according to the information exchange amount per unit time between the operation module 1 and the engine module 2 and the hydraulic module 3.
Should be appropriately allocated and communicated, and each module 1,
It is preferable that information between a few is defined in a packet of an appropriate size according to the assigned address.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, each of the modules 1, 2, and 3 has a main controller 7, a ROM (ROM) 8,
It comprises an output terminal 9 and a communication controller 10.
Here, the main controller 7 interprets the received packet and thereby executes a control algorithm for operating the actuators connected to each of the modules 1, 2, and 3. The operation of the actuator and the signal processing from various sensors process input and output via input / output terminals 9, and various data obtained from the sensors are packetized according to output formats for transmission to other modules. Be composed. In addition, in order to reduce the communication load of the main controller 7 in the communication situation, a communication controller 10 which is in charge of only communication with other modules is added, and the communication controller 10 performs processing of transmitting / receiving packets. To do.

In other words, taking the operation module 1 as shown in FIG. 2 as an example, the main controller 7 uses a 16-bit microprocessor and has the same processing speed as the other modules 2 and 3. Yes, many different signals are processed. In this operation module 1, the internal RAM (RAM) of the processor is used. However, compared to the signal processing algorithm, the amount of data or flags to be stored internally is relatively small, and only the internal RAM is sufficient. Because. The operation module 1 performs all communication with the other modules 2 and 3, continuously monitors switch inputs input from the operation switch 4 and the switch board 5 shown in FIG. 1, and operates all the display devices 6. Therefore, the communication controller 10 is used to reduce the communication load from the main controller 7, thereby increasing the efficiency. The communication controller 10 stores the transmitted data and outputs the data every time the main controller 7 requests. And, because of the large number of input / output signals, the unique terminals of the processor itself cannot be used and memory mapped.
(memory mapped) The input / output terminal 9 is expanded using the input / output method. A unique address is assigned to each terminal 9 to drive each indicator light, instrument panel, relay, and the like. Also, a program for performing the specific function of the operation module 1 itself is stored in the ROM 8 so that the basic function is performed regardless of the state of the power supply.

On the other hand, although the block configurations of the engine module 2 and the hydraulic module 3 are basically the same as the block configuration of the operation module 1, the engine module 2 performs high-speed / high-precision signal processing in order to improve engine efficiency. Main controller 7 has a 32-bit digital signal processor (DS).
It is desirable to use P).

Each of the above-mentioned modules 1, 2, 3 controls the information exchange with the engine module 2 and the hydraulic module 3 around the operation module 1, and
It is configured to control the operating state between a few.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of hardware responsible for transmission between the operation module 1 and the engine module 2 and transmission between the operation module 1 and the hydraulic module 3. As shown in the figure, in order to efficiently perform information exchange, an address for a signal between the transmitting end and the receiving end must be designated, thereby defining a packet.

As shown in FIG. 3, the selection signal is logic "high".
, Communication between the operation module 1 and the hydraulic module is performed via the communication controller 10a and the signal controller 10b, and when the selection signal is logic “low”, the communication controller 10c and the communication controller 10d are connected. Communication between the operation module 1 and the engine module 2 is performed via the operation module 1. In the case of the system shown in FIG. 3, communication with the engine module 2 and the hydraulic module 3 is required around the operation module 1, and the communication direction is determined by a selection signal controlled by the operation module 1. However, in order to classify data input from various sensors mounted in the engine module 2, it is necessary to define a packet. If such a packet is not defined, it is necessary to always indicate what device (address) the data transmitted from the transmitting end is related to, so that an increase in the amount of communication occurs.

The following table shows signals to be transmitted between the operation module 1 and the engine module 2 based on the above-mentioned method. In the case of a digital signal, it can be recognized by one bit, and in the case of an analog signal, the degree of control is shown. 8 with 256 resolutions currently available for heavy equipment
Bit analog / digital converter (analog / digital co
nverter: hereinafter referred to as “A / D converter”), and then convert the digital signal and transmit the digital signal.

Here, Table 1 shows signals transmitted from the operation module 1 to the engine module 2.
As shown in Table 1, a 2-bit start switch indicating the on-off state of the preheat switch and the start switch,
A data frame of a total of 8 bits is required, including a right turn indicator, a stop and a turn indicator.

[Table 1]

Table 2 lists signals transmitted from the engine module 2 to the operation module 1. Each bit for three types of warning lights and a temperature gauge for detecting overheating of the engine. ), Alternator (alte
rnator) using a tachometer (tacho)
meter), a hydraulic oil temperature gauge, etc., are converted into digital signals by an 8-bit A / D converter, and then input to the main controller 7.

[Table 2]

One embodiment in which the transmission signals as shown in Tables 1 and 2 described above are defined in packets is as shown in Tables 3 to 6 below.

[0039]

[Table 3]

[Table 4]

[Table 5]

[Table 6] That is, as shown in Table 3 above, the packet to be transmitted from the operation module 1 to the engine module 2 includes an 8-bit start frame, an 8-bit data field, and an 8-bit data field for error detection. Bit CRC bits, 8-bit end frame (end fra
Table 4 shows the structure of an 8-bit data portion.

Table 5 shows a packet to be transmitted from the engine module 2 to the operation module 1, which includes an 8-bit start frame, a 32-bit data field, an 8-bit CRC bit for error detection, and an 8-bit end frame. Table 6 shows the structure of the aforementioned 32-bit data field. On the other hand, the four spare bits are for comparing the performance improvement of heavy equipment.

However, Tables 3 to 6 show one embodiment, and it must be recognized that the contents and the number of allocated data bits are variable.

On the other hand, for data transmission between the modules 1, 2, and 3, the packets defined in Tables 3 to 6 should be controlled to be able to transmit / receive according to a predetermined procedure. The communication algorithm is as shown in FIGS.

That is, FIGS. 4 and 5 show each module 1, 2,.
In the present invention, the operation module 1 has an authority to control transmission / reception so as not to cause a packet collision in communication between the modules 2 and 3, and a failure of each module. Or to detect transmission line anomalies, without any other hardware,
Count-down (count
-down) A timer was introduced.

First, as shown in FIG. 4, when the system is operated, the operation module 1 prepares an initialization packet, resets a timer, and starts counting down (S1). Next, the main controller 7 of the engine module 2
Next, the packet prepared in step S1 is transmitted (S2), and the operation module 1 switches to the reception mode to acquire data from the engine module 2 (S2).
3). Thereafter, it is checked whether the timer is 0 in the reception mode converted in the above step (S3) (S4), and it is checked whether there is any packet acquired before the timer reaches 0 (S5). If a packet is acquired before the timer reaches 0, the timer is reset and count-down is started (S6), and the CRC is checked to detect the presence or absence of an error (S7). At this time, if no error is detected, the received data is processed and various indicators are operated according to the assigned address value (S8).
After the packet is prepared, it is converted to a module to be transmitted / received (S9).

On the other hand, if no packet is received even if the timer reaches 0 in step (S4), or if the packet is not received in step (S7)
When it is determined that an error has occurred, the error count is increased, compared with the initially set error limit, and when the error count value exceeds the error limit, a failure alarm is output (S10), and the timer is reset. After resetting, the count-down is started (S11), and the process proceeds to step (S9) to switch the transmission / reception target module, and then perform transmission / reception with the next module. In such a system, when a transmission packet including an error occurs frequently or the number of times that a packet cannot be received from the engine module 2 increases, a warning light is emitted together with a message indicating a failure, so that an operation is performed. Can easily perform the fault diagnosis.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the engine module 2 resets the timer and starts counting down (S12), and then switches to the reception mode for receiving a packet from the operation module 1 (S13). In the mode state, it is checked whether the timer is 0 (S1).
4) Check whether the packet is received before the timer reaches 0 (S15). At this time, if the packet is not received even if the timer becomes 0, the error count is increased, the error flag is set (S16), and the process returns to the step (S12).

However, when the reception of the packet is confirmed in the above-mentioned step (S15), the timer of the engine module 2 is reset to start counting down (S1).
7) Check the CRC to see if an error is detected (S18). If it is determined in this step (S18) that no error is detected, the received data is processed, various actuators are driven by the packets (S19), and data is obtained from various sensors to form packets. Then, after transmitting the prepared packet to the operation module 1 (S20), the process returns to step (S13) to switch to the reception mode. However, step (S18)
If an error is detected in step (1), the error count is increased, and an error flag is set when the error count value exceeds the error limit (S21). When the error flag is set as described above, the process proceeds to step S20, and when forming a packet to be transmitted to the operation module 1, the error bit is set to 1 as shown in Table 6 and transmitted. Thus, the driver is notified that the abnormality has occurred.

Here, setting the length of the count-down appropriately has a close relationship with the responsiveness and accuracy of the system. Therefore, the length of the timer of the operation module 1 is most suitable as a sum of the various processing times of the operation module 1, the transmission / reception time with the engine module 2, and the processing time of the engine module 2, and a margin time. Further, it is preferable that the length of the timer is set by the method described above in relation to the operation module 1 and the hydraulic module 3 so that the timer is compared to take a larger value between the two. . The length of the count-down timer in the engine module 1 or the hydraulic module 3 is preferably set to a value obtained by combining the two timers obtained above.

On the other hand, when communication is performed using the communication controller 10 after defining a packet, C
Except for the RC part, the transmission is performed by carrying the paridibit while performing the transmission in units of 1 byte. When the packet length is short as used in the embodiment of the present invention, it is efficient to use the paridibit, but it is more efficient to transmit the packet itself when the amount of information to be transmitted increases. It is.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram showing a communication interface necessary for performing packet communication.

As shown in the figure, the comparator 11 compares the data with the start frame at the time of reception, and when the input data matches the start frame initially, the subsequent data is transmitted to the shift register 12. I do. In this system, since a packet of up to 56 bits exists, a 64-bit shift register 12 is used to receive all the data of the packet to make the capacity sufficient. Cancel the reception status of.

The data stored in the shift register 12 is transmitted on the data bus in units of one byte via the buffer 15 selected by the decoder 14 in the transmission / reception controller 13 and transmitted in this manner. The processor reads the data in units of one byte. Here, at the time of packet transmission, synchronization must be matched when data is received. Therefore, the transmission / reception is performed in a state where the number of symbols to be transmitted every second in each of the modules 1, 2, and 3 is matched.
The overall communication is controlled by the reception controller 13.
That is, the shift clock is output to the shift register 12 by receiving the internally generated clock, and when all the data is received, the buffer 1 connected to each shift register 12
5 so that the processor can extract data 8 bits at a time.

At the time of transmission, 1 is controlled by the control of the decoder 14.
The packet data is sequentially input to a 64-bit shift register 17 via a buffer 16, and the shift register 1
7 is transmitted by a shift clock. Here, a CRC for checking a transmission error is performed by software.

In the present invention, a full-duplex system (full-dupl
The transmission side and the reception side are provided with 64-bit shift registers 12 and 17, respectively, to perform the communication of the ex operation.

[0055]

As described above, the distributed control system for heavy equipment according to the present invention has the following advantages.

(1) The conventional constituent part composed of a plurality of lines is divided into a plurality of modules having the specific functions, and each module is independently configured. And the wiring work at the time of repair is very easy.

(2) Since the configuration is such that each module performs an independent function, it is easy to change the design by replacing and adding modules when necessary. In addition, when a new module is developed, the difficulty of the design due to the electric wire arrangement is solved, and the entire electric wire arrangement state need not be considered separately.

(3) Since the arrangement and connection of electric wires are very simple due to the modularized structure, the items to be inspected at the time of maintenance are very simple. In addition, since each individual module diagnoses its own function and analyzes the cause of the failure, when a failure occurs, it is possible to easily recognize the location and the cause of the failure, and the action taken by the module is quick / Can be performed accurately.

(4) Even if another sensor and controller are added for automation of heavy equipment, the modules can be easily connected and changed without changing the structure between the modules.

[0060]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a heavy equipment distributed system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed internal block diagram of each module shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of a communication controller illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of a main controller for transmitting a packet from an operation module to an engine module and a hydraulic module.

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart of a main controller for transmitting a packet from an operation module to an engine module and a hydraulic module.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram showing a communication interface for packet transmission.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Operation module 2 Engine module 3 Hydraulic module 4 Operation switch 5 Switch board 6 Display device 7 Main controller 8 ROM (ROM) 9 Input / output terminal 10, 10a-10d Communication controller 11 Comparator 12, 17 Shift register 13 Send / Reception controller 14 Decoder 15,16 Buffer

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. In heavy equipment, divided into a plurality of modules according to each function and position,
A heavy equipment distributed control system in which each divided module is independently controlled by an independent controller, and information can be exchanged between the modules using a single line. 2. Each module is independently configured such that at least one or more modules among the divided modules can be removed or at least one or more modules can be additionally mounted. The distributed control system for heavy equipment according to claim 1, wherein: 3. Each of the divided modules includes a main controller for controlling the operation of each component included in the module, and an input for performing communication between the modules according to a control signal of the main controller. An output terminal, a communication controller for storing data to be communicated and then outputting the stored data according to a control signal of the main controller, and a program for performing a specific function of each module. The heavy equipment distributed control system according to claim 1, further comprising a ROM that sequentially outputs stored programs according to a control signal of the main controller. 4. The distributed control system for heavy equipment according to claim 1, wherein the system is divided into an operation module, an engine module, and a hydraulic module. 5. The operating module prepares an initialization packet when the system is operated, transmits the packet prepared in the engine module and the hydraulic module, and then switches to a receiving mode, and then switches the receiving module to the receiving mode. To obtain a packet, process the obtained data, execute various display operations according to the assigned address value, prepare the next packet, and then convert to a transmission / reception target module. The distributed control system for heavy equipment according to claim 4, wherein: 6. The engine module and the hydraulic module switch to a reception mode to obtain a packet from the operation module, process the obtained packet, drive the system by the packet, and obtain data from various sensors. 5. The distributed control system for heavy equipment according to claim 4, wherein a new packet is prepared, the prepared packet is transmitted to the operation module, and then a process of switching to the reception mode is performed. 7. The distributed control system for heavy equipment according to claim 5, wherein a packet obtained from another module includes an error correction code for detecting presence / absence of an error. 8. The distributed control system for heavy equipment according to claim 5, further comprising a timer for counting a packet acquisition time in order to improve responsiveness.